KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—The founder of a new radio program aimed at airing voices challenging Malaysia’s ruling party blamed a cyberattack for disrupting her debut show.

The two-hour program, called Radio Free Malaysia, aired Monday on traditional radio airwaves and through Internet audio streaming. But the first hour of the Internet streaming audio couldn’t be heard because of a “denial-of-service” attack, in which an overwhelming number of communication requests forced the site to be shut down, said founder Clare Rewcastle Brown, a former BBC journalist. The radio distribution of the program went smoothly.

“These were well-coordinated attacks aimed at silencing us,” said Ms. Brown, who is based in London.

She accused supporters of Malaysia’s ruling coalition—the National Front—of being behind the disruption of her program.

She hosts a blog—the Sarawak Report—in Malaysia as well. It faced a similar cyberattack last week, she said. She believes that attack was sparked by National Front supporters upset by a antigovernment video posted elsewhere.

She said she hasn’t sought investigations into the incidents. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, which regulates local media, declined to comment.

Ms. Brown launched her daily Radio Free Malaysia in the run-up to Malaysia’s general election, which must held by the end of June and is expected to be the most competitive in its history. James Chin, a fellow at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies doubts Radio Free Malaysia will affect the race. “A lot will depend on how many will actually tune in,” he said.

The National Front coalition, which has been in power since Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957, is frequently accused of heavy-handedness in its dealing with the few independent newspapers and TV stations in the Southeast Asian country.

Government-run or backed media outlets pump out the government’s positions while targeting opposition politicians, leaving little room for voices of dissent, critics say. Malaysia was ranked the 145th worst country on press freedom of 179 countries studied by Reporters Without Borders.

“There is a crisis of confidence definitely with print and certainly with TV,” said Masjaliza Hamzah, chief executive at the Center for Independent Journalism, a media advocacy group based in Kuala Lumpur.

“We will also be knocking on the doors of the National Front politicians to have them on the program,” Ms. Brown said.

Ms. Brown—who is married to Andrew Brown, the younger brother of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown—said her London base will keep her beyond the reach of Malaysian broadcast rules, which in turn will help her in getting out the views of opposing politicians and others.

Under current regulation, local radio channels are required to inform the information and broadcasting regulator of interviews in advance. Often the regulator bars broadcasting such interviews with political opposition members.

Malaysia’s constitution gives citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression, but imposes limits. Violations can be punished by several years in prison.

Malaysia’s current prime minister, British-educated Najib Razak, has initiated reforms to loosen up rules on the news media and the tightly controlled political system as he pitches himself as a moderate keen for a more open society. Last year, he got rid of laws that required annual licensing of print publications. “Definitely what he has done so far has not yet transformed media and how Malaysians want news,” said Ms. Masjaliza, the media advocate.

Ms. Brown earlier launched a radio program called Radio Free Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo. She was born in Sarawak, and the program focuses on environmental challenges faced by indigenous people there due to rapid deforestation.

Radio is popular in Malaysia. Malaysians topped the radio listener list in the Asian-Pacific region, tuning in for an average of 21 hours and 34 minutes a week in 2011, according to a survey by market researcher Nielson.

It is now the emerging trend for litigants to file mega suit for defamation where general damages have been quantified by their lawyer up to the tune of RM100 million or more. Was this just to sensationalise the defamation suit or honestly claim for the mega general damages? Was such mega suit permitted by the [...]

PKR National Supreme Council member cum PKR Sabah Secretary – Dr Roland Chia is very concern with the recent online survey conducted in Feb 2013 by a reputable property group – which indicated that an extremely high number of Malaysians find houses beyond their reach. The online poll is indeed an alarming figure given the fact that our country Malaysia is a resource rich country with oil, gas, palm oil & vast parcel of land with only a population of 28 million citizens.

The online survey poll indicated that 90% are saying that the current property prices are unaffordable. 69% of respondent polled were calling for more affordable housing – which is a great concern for house buyers. While 16% has appeared to have given up on looking for homes as their house prices is beyond their purchasing capabilities. There is a indication that property prices rises faster than the income of house buyers.

Dr Roland Chia was very concern because more than 60% of those polled in the survey falls into the lower middle income and middle income group that has annual income of RM30,000 – RM80,000. If this situation were to worsen- then there will be a "middle income trap" whereby the wages of the middle income group will not be able to finance basic necessities like housing - the first home for themselves or even their childrens' education.

When we compare our GDP per capita with other countries, South Korea's GDP per capita is US$16,450, Singapore US$34,346, Hong Kong US$29,559, while Malaysia is still at US$7,469. It must be remembered that in the early 1970s, we were at parity with these countries. In five years' time they would be even further ahead. The rakyat must resolve to do much soul searching- what is the reason for the disparity of GDP per capita after 50 years of independence in this forthcoming 13th Edition of General Election in Sabah &